promettere

Forms

promettere (first-person singular present prométto, first-person singular past historic promìsi, past participle promésso, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include promectere, promettere, promictere, promittere and prommettere.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prōmittō (“to send forward; to promise”), from prō- (“forward”) and mittō (“to send”), the source of mettere.^[3][4][5][6] DEI calls it a learned adaptation of the Latin verb.^[7] The same word is French promettre, Occitan prometre, Catalan prometre, Spanish prometer, Portuguese prometer, Logudorese Sardinian promittire and Friulian prometi.^[4][8][9]

The noun promessa goes back to Late Latin “promissa”, originally the neuter plural of the past participle prōmissus, “things promised”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Florentine bankers' book of 1211, in the sense “undertake to give or do something”.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the Novellino tells of a man who “promised to give whatever Alexander gave him” (elli mi promise di donare ciò ch'Alessandro li donasse).^[2] Old Italian also used the verb for “declare, affirm” (13th century), “threaten” (Dino Compagni) and “swear” (Luigi Pulci); the reflexive “to bind oneself” is recorded before 1349, in Busone da Gubbio.^[7][3] The sense “to promise well, give hope” is recorded in 1841, in Tommaseo.^[3]

Several phrases go back to the participle and the noun: terra promessa “the promised land” (1673, Paolo Segneri, “a long-desired place” in 1871), and promessa di marinaio, a promise soon forgotten, like the vows sailors make in a storm.^[3] Promettere mari e monti is “to promise the earth”.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine bankers' book has promettere.^[3]
• 13th century – Promessa in Inghilfredi.^[3]
• Before 1349 – Busone da Gubbio uses the reflexive promettersi.^[3]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses terra promessa.^[3]
• 1834 – Carlo Botta uses promettente “promising”.^[3]
• 1841 – Tommaseo uses the intransitive “give hope”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To promise, commit oneself to give or do something: Mi ha promesso che mi avrebbe aiutato.^{[5][10][11][1]}
2. To threaten, announce a punishment or something unpleasant: Il padre gli promise una bella sgridata.^[5][10][1]
3. To vow before God; to undertake an obligation solemnly.^[5]
4. (figurative) To give signs of, foretell: Il cielo promette neve.^{[5][10][11][1]}
5. (figurative) To show promise, of a person: Quella giovane pianista promette bene.^[5][10]

Word family

• promessa
• promesso
• promettente
• promettitore
• ripromettere

Related words

• mettere
• permettere
• Latin mittō

Usage notes

The pronominal promettersi means “to pledge oneself” (in marriage, to God), and reciprocally “to promise each other”.^[11][10] Old Italian also had a promettere “to permit”, a variant of permettere by metathesis: Non prometta Iddio “God forbid”.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 587
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3102
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 590
13. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it